This issue of MOR features a guest editorial by deputy editor Professor Klaus Meyer on the role of ‘Context in Management Research in Emerging Economies’ and a Perspective paper co-authored by Yadong Luo and John Child on ‘The Growth of Emerging Economy Enterprises: A Composition-Based View’, followed by two commentaries. The first, ‘Extraordinary Survival from Ordinary Resources – How So?’, is by Richard Burton and the second, ‘Reframing the Compositional Capability’ is by Henk Volberda and Emre Karali.
The Dialogue, Debate, and Discussion editorial area features an article by Beatrice Otto titled ‘The Court Jester Is Universal…But Is He Still Relevant’? This role probably does exist in some organizations but is also almost entirely underexplored in organization research. I do recall that J. F Langton, a journalist with the San Francisco Examiner, was hired by Tom Clausen, President and CEO of Bank of America as Vice President, to serve as the internal ‘Court Jester’ following the student rioting on February 25, 1970, which set fire to a Bank of America branch that stands on the site of today's Embarcadero. Tom Clausen felt that the bank needed someone who could serves as a ‘prick in the thigh of the bank’.
However, the ‘main event’ features the Special Issue on Building Sustainable Organizations in China, guest edited by Chris Marquis, Susan E. Jackson, and Yuan Li. This special issue was commissioned by founding editor in chief, Professor Anne Tsui. The Call for Papers attracted 38 manuscripts, of which four are featured in the special issue. The developmental process for this special issue involved a special issue paper development conference, funded in part by the Natural Sciences Foundation of China. On behalf of MOR I wish to express my special thanks to Shanghai Jiaotong University Antai College and the Harvard University Shanghai Center for hosting this conference. I also wish to express my appreciation to the guest editors for their extraordinary editorial efforts and to the 33 reviewers who helped develop the featured papers. The theme of building sustainable organizations in transforming economies, while attracting increased attention and growing in importance, is in actuality largely an unexplored research area. It is my hope that publication of the special issue will signal the interest of MOR in attracting and publishing research in this area in the context of all transforming economies.
At the IACMR event during the Academy of Management meeting (August 2015), a memorial session was held for Kwok Leung, who passed away on 25 February 2015. At this memorial session I unveiled the plans for an MOR Special Issue to celebrate the life and advance the scholarship of Kwok Leung. The Call for Papers is advertised prominently in this issue. I wish to take this opportunity and express my deep appreciation to Michael Morris, Columbia University, (George) Zhen Xiong Chen, Australian National University, Lorna Doucet, Fudan University, and Yaping Gong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, for agreeing to serve as guest editors. I also wish to acknowledge and thank Dean Xiongwen Lu, Fudan University School of Management, for offering to host the Special Issue Paper Development Conference, which will be held prior to the 2016 IACMR Conference in Hangzhou.
I also wish to recognize the 2014–2015 Best Senior Editors and Best Reviewer awards. The awards were announced at the MOR reception, which was held on Saturday August 8th in Vancouver with over 300 guests attending the reception. The 2015 Best Senior Editor Award Winners are Yaping Gong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Eric W. K. Tsang, University of Texas as Dallas; and Alain Verbeke, University of Calgary and University of Brussels. The 2015 Best Reviewer Award Winners are Sam Aryee, King's College London; Grace Fan, University of British Columbia-Okanagan; Leigh Anne Liu, Georgia State University; Torsten Wulf, Phillips-University Marburg; and Hongjin Zhu, McMaster University. As I conclude my second year as Editor in Chief I feel that MOR is fortunate to have such an outstanding team of Senior Editors supported by a dedicated editorial review board. This past year submissions are up by at least 25%. The acceptance rate for 2014 is just under 10%, desk reject rate (2014) is 33%, and on average authors received first editorial decision after 79 days.
Finally, I wish to note that five MOR papers (published in 2012) have been awarded Emerald Citation of Excellence Winners in 2015. MOR has recently been added to the UK's Association of Business Schools’ Academic Journal Guide and is now rated as a category ‘A’ journal from the Australian Business Deans Council.
MOR is on the move.
